"Ambition! thou whose hallow'd flame can live / Only in minds refin'd from the gross elements / Of which the herd of human kind are made!"

Metaphor in Context

EDITHA.
First will I find Lord Gondibert.--
What revolutions hath this love accomplish'd!
And shall less power belong to bright ambition?Ambition! thou whose hallow'd flame can live
Only in minds refin'd from the gross elements
Of which the herd of human kind are made!
This Deity of Fools shall yield to thee.
I'll strait to Gondibert, whose long-pent passion
Will, like a torrent, from its mound break forth,
O'erwhelming its opposers: his fierce transports
With the soft voice of Friendship I will meet,
And guide them to my purpose.
(p. 17)